Peter h wilson europes tragedy a new histor war (v5 0)

The Divided House of VasaPoland-Lithuania 7 From Rudolf to Matthias 1582–1612 Religion and the German Princes Confession and Imperial Politics to 1608 Union and Liga 1608–9 The Jülich-Cl

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First published 2009

1 Copyright © Peter H Wilson, 2009 The moral right of the author has been asserted The endpaper map was originally drawn by Reginald Piggott for a reissue of C V Wedgwood’s

The Thirty Years War (1938) and retains a handful of variant place-name spellings.

It is reproduced courtesy of the Folio Society.

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Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-0-14-193780-9

For my family

Lands and Dynasty

Estates and Confession

The Catholic Revival

4 The Turkish War and its Consequences

The Turkish Menace

The Ways of War

The Long Turkish War

The Brothers’ Quarrel

5 Pax Hispanica

The Spanish Monarchy

The Dutch Revolt 1568–1609

The Spanish Road

Spanish Peace-making

6 Dominium Maris Baltici

Denmark

The Divided House of Vasa

Poland-Lithuania

7 From Rudolf to Matthias 1582–1612

Religion and the German Princes

Confession and Imperial Politics to 1608

Union and Liga 1608–9

The Jülich-Cleves Crisis 1609–10

9 The Bohemian Revolt 1618–20

For Liberty and Privilege

A King for a Crown

Ferdinand Gathers his Forces

The Catholic Ascendancy 1621–9

11 Olivares and Richelieu

Olivares

Richelieu

The Valtellina

12 Denmark’s War against the Emperor 1625–9

Trouble in Lower Saxony

The Edict of Restitution

The Regensburg Electoral Congress 1630

14 The Lion of the North 1630–2

Swedish Intervention

Between the Lion and the Eagle

The Swedish Empire

Calls for Assistance

Zenith

15 Without Gustavus 1633–4

The Heilbronn League

Tension along the Rhine

Sain Intervenes

Wallenstein: the Final Act

The Two Ferdinands

16 For the Liberty of Germany 1635–6

Richelieu Resolves on War

The War in the West 1635–6

The Peace of Prague 1635

Appeals to Patriotism

Renewed Efforts for Peace

17 Habsburg High Tide 1637–40

Stalemate

Resolution on the Rhine

Peace for North Germany?

18 In the Balance 1641–3

The Franco-Swedish Alliance 1641

The War in the Empire 1642–3

Spain’s Growing Crisis 1635–43

From Breda to Rocroi 1637–43

Spain’s Peace with the Dutch

The Final Round 1648

PART THREE Aftermath

21 The Westphalian Settlement

The International Dimension

A Christian Peace

Demobilization

The Imperial Recovery

22 The Human and Material Cost

An All-destructive Fury?

The Demographic Impact

The Economic Impact

The Crisis of the Territorial State

List of Illustrations

Photographic acknowledgements are given in parentheses Every effort has been made

to contact all copyright holders The Publishers will be happy to make good in futureeditions of this book any errors or omissions brought to their attention

1 The Defenestration of Prague in 1618, engraving by Matthaeus Merian the Elder, from

Theatrum Europaeum, Frankfurt, 1662 (Universitätsbibliothek Augsburg)

2 Persecution of Christians, 1622, from a contemporary pamphlet (Harry Ransom

Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin)

3 Nördlingen, engraving from Matthaeus Merian, Topographia Germania, Frankfurt, 1643

4 Friedenswünsch, from Merian, Topographia Germania

5 Coat of Arms of the Imperial City of Buchhorn, 1619 (Stadtgeschichtliche Sammlungen,Stadt Friedrichshafen; photograph copyright © Toni Schneiders)

6 The Crown of Rudolf II (detail), 1602, by Jan Vermeyen (Kunst-historisches Museum,Vienna)

7 Emperor Ferdinand II Bildarchiv der Österreichischen (Nationalbibliothek, Vienna;photograph courtesy ÖNB/Wien)

8 The Mystical Marriage of St Katherine, with Emperor Matthias as the Apostle Matthew with Empress Anna as St Helena, 1614, by Matthäus Gundelach (Schloss Ambras, Vienna;

photograph courtesy Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)

9 Musketeers, from Hans Conrad Lavater, Kriegs-Büchlein, Zurich, 1644

10 Arquebusiers performing a caracole, from Hermann Hugo, De militia equestri antiqua

et nova ad regem Philippum IV, Antwerp, 1630 (photograph courtesy Chetham’s Library,

Manchester)

11 Archduchess Isabella, c 1616–17, by Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel (Museo

Nacional del Prado, Madrid; photograph courtesy AISA )

12 Gustavus Adolphus, copy of an undated sketch by ‘L.S.’ (Germanisches

Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg)

13 Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna of Sweden, 1635, copy after Michiel Jansz van

Miereveldt (Copyright © The National Museum of Fine Arts, Stockholm)

14 Maximilian I, c 1620, by an unknown artist (Bayerische

Staatsgemaeldesammlungen, Munich; photograph courtesy akg-images)

15 Frederick V, as Frederick I King of Bohemia, c 1619, by Gerrit van Honthorst

(Collection of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry; photograph courtesy akg-images)

16 Christian von Anhalt, engraving from Merian, Theatrum Europaeum

17 Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, c 1620, by an unknown artist (Landesmuseum,

Brunswick; photograph courtesy akg-images)

18 Execution of the Bohemian Rebels by the Prague Blood Court, 21 June 1621, from a

contemporary pamphlet (photograph courtesy akg-images)

19 Christian of Brunswick, 1619, by Paulus Moreelse (Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum,Brunswick; photograph courtesy akg-images)

20 The Battle of Stadtlohn, 1623, from a contemporary pamphlet (Germanisches

23 Albrecht von Wallenstein, c 1626, by Kristian Kaulfersch (Frýdlant Castle, Czech

Republic; photograph courtesy Deutsche Fotothek)

24 Gustavus Adolphus landing in Pomerania, 1630, by Georg Köler (Germanisches

Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg)

25 The Death of Gustavus II Adolphus during the Battle of Lützen (detail), 1632, by Jan

Asselijn (Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Brunswick; photogrpah courtesy

28 Murder of Wallenstein and his officers in Eger on 25 February 1634, from Merian,

Theatrum Europaeum (photograph courtesy akg-images)

29 Emperor Ferdinand III, undated engraving (Bildarchiv der Österreichischen

Nationalbibliothek, Vienna; photograph courtesy ÖNB/Wien)

30 Amalia Elisabeth of Hessen-Kassel, from Merian, Theatrum Europaeum

31 The Battle of the Downs against the Spanish Armada, 21 October 1639 (detail) by Willem

van der Velde the Elder (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

32 Maximilian Count Trautmannsdorff, by an unknown artist (copyright © The NationalMuseum of Fine Arts, Stockholm)

33 Dedication of the Marian Column in Munich, seventeenth-century engraving

(photograph courtesy Bildarchiv Foto Marburg)

34 Seven Bavarian Soldiers Giving Thanks After the Battle of Alerheim, 1651, south German

School (Schloss Baldern, Bopfingen-Württemberg)

35 Memento Mori, by Hans Ulrich Franck (Kunsthalle, Bremen)

36 A Cavalryman Waylaid in a Forest, 1643, by Hans Ulrich Franck (Staatliche

Kunstsammlungen, Dresden; photograph courtesy Deutsche Fotothek)

37 Soldiers Plundering a Village, 1643, by Hans Ulrich Franck (Kupferstichkabinett,

Kunsthalle, Bremen)

38 Drawing of the flag of Captain Concin’s company of Count Hardegg’s imperialinfantry regiment, 1632 (Niederösterreichisches Landesarchiv, Vienna)

39 Peace Celebrations, Nuremberg, 1650, from Merian, Theatrum Europeaum

(Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg)

40 The Ratification of the Treaty of Münster, 15 May 1648, by Gerhard ter Borch

(Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

List of Maps and Battle Plans

25 Zusmarshausen 1648

List of Tables

1 British military involvement

2 Possession of the North German bishoprics c 1590–1650

3 Strength of the imperial army

4 Regiments of the imperial army 1618–30

5 The territorial settlement

6 Military strength in the Empire, October 1648

7 Comparative total deaths in major conflicts

8 Population change in the Habsburg monarchy 1600–50

Note on Form

Place names are given in the form most commonly used in English-language writing.For east Central European locations, this tends to be the German version The currentname is given in parenthesis at the first mention Individuals are identified in the textusing their first name and the title by which they are best known Full names and titles,along with dates of birth and death (where known) are given for each person in theindex Emperor Ferdinand II’s general has become known as Wallenstein since Schiller’sdrama trilogy at the end of the eighteenth century This version has entrenched itself inEnglish writing and will be used here rather than the Czech original, Waldstein In

contemporary documents, he generally appears as ‘the Friedländer’ after his duchy ofFriedland Though anachronistic, the term ‘Britain’ will be used for the lands of the

Stuart monarchy in preference to the still more misleading ‘England’, unless it is

intended to refer to the individual kingdoms or principalities All dates are given in theNew Style according to the Gregorian calendar introduced into the Catholic parts ofEurope and the Holy Roman Empire around 1582 This was ten days ahead of the Juliancalendar retained by Protestant Germans generally until 1700

The Habsburg Family Tree 1500–1665

Note on Currencies

Currency Equivalent

Escudo (Spain) 1.1 ducats (Spain, from 1620), or 2.5 fl (Dutch)

Ducat (Spain) 2.35 fl (Dutch), or 1.4 fl (German)

Ducat (Naples) 0.7 ducat (Spain)

Florin (German) 1.7 fl (Dutch)

Livre (French) initially 0.7 fl (German); 0.5 fl after 1640

Pound sterling 4.2–4.8 talers

Riksdaler (Denmark/Sweden) 1–1.5 fl (German)

Taler (Empire) 1.5 fl (German), or 2.5 fl (Dutch)

It is difficult to give modern equivalents to seventeenth-century currency As a guide tovalue, 7.5–10 florins would buy enough grain to feed a person for a whole year in 1618

The history of the Thirty Years War is rich in specialist studies, but poor in general

accounts Few authors provide more than short overviews intended for students It iseasy to see why To cover all aspects would require knowledge of at least fourteen

European languages, while there are sufficient archival records to occupy many

lifetimes of research Even the printed material runs to millions of pages; there are over4,000 titles just on the Peace of Westphalia that concluded the conflict The sheer

volume of evidence has affected how previous histories have been written Some cutthrough the detail by fitting the war into broader explanations of Europe’s transition tomodernity Others give more scope to personalities and events but often signs of fatigueset in as the author approaches the mid-1630s By then the heroes and villains giving life

to the opening phases were largely dead, replaced by other figures ignored by posterity.There is a rush to wrap up the story and the last thirteen years are compressed into aquarter or less of the text, much of which is devoted to discussing the peace and

aftermath

The present work seeks to redress this through a more even coverage across the entiretime span Some of the distinctive features of this approach are set out in the

introductory chapter The most important is to view the war on its own terms as a

struggle over the political and religious order of Central Europe, rather than submerging

it within a general account of European conflict throughout the first half of the

seventeenth century While this simplifies some aspects, it also directs attention to thewar’s origins in the complex situation in the Holy Roman Empire during the later

sixteenth century The task of the first part of the book is to explain this and place it inthe wider European context The second part follows the unfolding tragedy roughly

chronologically, paying particular regard to why peace-making efforts failed before themid-1640s The final part examines the war’s political, economic, social and culturalimpact and longer-term significance Throughout, structural explanations have beencombined with an emphasis on agency and contingency, giving more space than

customary to minor as well as more prominent participants Referencing is selective,excluding much of the older material used in favour of recent works that are more

accessible for most readers and provide a useful guide to the specialist literature

It is a great pleasure to acknowledge the support of the Arts and Humanities ResearchCouncil for a Research Leave Award in 2007–8 that enabled this book to be completed Ihave also benefited from a supportive research environment during my time at the

University of Sunderland, as well as a warm welcome by the History Department at Hullwhere the final sections were written Leopold Auer and the staff of the Haus-, Hof- undStaatsarchiv Vienna provided valuable assistance during my all-too-brief visit in 2006 I

am grateful to Scott Dixon, Robert Evans, Ralph Morrison and Neil Rennoldson for theirhelp in locating obscure works, and especially to Kacper Rekawek for assisting withPolish-language material Clarissa Campbell Orr, Tryntje Helfferich, Michael Kaiser,

Maureen Meikle, Géza Pálffy and Ciro Paoletti all generously shared their knowledge onnumerous points of detail I am particularly indebted to Trevor Johnson for providing apre-publication version of his book on Bavarian policy Sadly, his sudden death in 2007means I am no longer able to reciprocate.

Simon Winder’s encouragement sustained my faith that the book would eventually becompleted, while his editorial advice greatly improved its clarity Charlotte Ridings’careful copyediting rooted out inconsistency and error, and Cecilia Mackay transformed

my wish-list of illustrations into reality

Eliane, Alec, Tom and Nina patiently tolerated my immersion in the past and, as

usual, have provided the greatest assistance and inspiration This book is dedicated tothem with love

PART ONE Beginnings

1 Introduction

THREE MEN AND A WINDOW

Shortly after 9 a.m on Wednesday 23 May 1618, Vilém Slavata found himself hangingfrom a window of the Hradschin castle in Prague This was not a predicament the 46-year-old aristocrat had encountered before As president of the Bohemian treasury and asupreme court judge, he was a senior figure in the royal government with a

distinguished career in the service of the ruling Habsburg dynasty Thanks to his

marriage to the heiress Lucia Ottilia, he was also one of the richest men in the entirekingdom

Moments before, his equally distinguished colleague, Jaroslav Borita von Martinitz,had been seized by five armed men Martinitz’s pleas to be allowed a confessor had

merely enraged his assailants who flung him unceremoniously headfirst from the samewindow from which Slavata now clung, dangling precariously above the seventeen-metre drop to the ditch below Angry voices in the room indicated no prospect of humanhelp At that moment, Slavata felt the sharp cut of metal as someone smacked a swordhilt against his fingers The pain became too much; his grip loosened and he plummeteddownward, cracking the back of his head open on the sill of a lower window As he

disappeared into the void, his attackers noticed his secretary, Philipp Fabricius, his armsclutched around one of the less intimidating members of the gang Ignoring his pleas formercy, he was summarily despatched out of the window to share his master’s fate

That, however, turned out other than intended While Slavata landed squarely at thebottom of the ditch, Martinitz had fallen further up He now slithered down to help hisfriend, injuring himself on the way down with his own sword that his attackers had

neglected to unbuckle Shots rang out from the window above, but Martinitz managed

to help the dazed Slavata to his feet and together they escaped to the nearby Lobkowitzpalace, home of the Bohemian chancellor who had been absent from their disruptedmeeting Two men were sent to finish them off, but Lobkowitz’s wife, Polyxena, boltedthe door and eventually persuaded them to go away Martinitz fled across the frontier toBavaria the next day, but Slavata’s injuries prevented him from leaving immediatelyand he was forced to hide Fabricius, who, amazingly, had landed on his feet,

meanwhile raced to Vienna, heart of the Habsburg monarchy and political centre of theHoly Roman Empire, to alert the emperor.1

This event has entered history as the Defenestration of Prague that triggered the

Bohemian Revolt, the commonly accepted start of the Thirty Years War that claimedeight million lives and transformed the political and religious map of Europe The waroccupies a place in German and Czech history similar to that of the civil wars in Britain,Spain and the United States of America, or the revolutions in France and Russia: a

defining moment of national trauma that shaped how a country regards itself and itsplace in the world The difficulty for later generations in coming to terms with the scale

of the devastation has been compared to the problem of historicizing the Holocaust.2 Formost Germans, the war came to symbolize national humiliation, retarding political,economic and social development and condemning their country to two centuries ofinternal division and international impotence

INTERPRETATIONS

This interpretation originated in a much later defeat that both revived interest in theThirty Years War and transformed how it was regarded For those who lived through it,and their children, the war retained the immediacy of contemporary events From theoutset, the conflict attracted wide interest across Europe, accelerating the early

seventeenth-century ‘media revolution’ that saw the birth of the modern newspaper (seeChapter 23) The concluding Peace of Westphalia was an international bestseller,

running through at least thirty editions within a year Interest gradually dissipated

towards the end of the seventeenth century as Central Europe entered another thirtyyears of war, mainly against France and the Ottoman Turks The memory of the earlierconflict continued to be kept alive, however, in annual festivities celebrating the Peace

of Westphalia, as well as through a relatively small number of books intended for a

popular market Like the public ceremonies, these works presented a broadly positiveinterpretation of the war’s outcome in preserving the liberties of Protestant Germansand strengthening the imperial constitution.3

The view darkened dramatically in the wake of the French Revolution and Napoleon’sdismemberment of the Holy Roman Empire The Austro-Prussian counter-attack againstRevolutionary France in 1792 dragged Germans into another cycle of invasion, defeat,political upheaval and devastation These experiences coincided with new intellectualand cultural currents associated with Romanticism and the literary ‘Storm and Stress’movement Lurid tales of mass death, rape and torture from the Thirty Years War had

an immediate resonance, while the dramatic lives of individuals like the imperial

general Wallenstein, or Sweden’s King Gustavus Adolphus, assumed new meaning

through comparison with Napoleon and other contemporary figures Friedrich Schiller,the leading Storm and Stress writer, found an eager audience when he published his

history of the war in 1791, followed by his Wallenstein trilogy in 1797–9 which remains

the equivalent of Shakespeare’s history plays for the German-speaking world

The Romantic reinterpretation of the war established three elements that still shapewriting today One is a Gothic preoccupation with death, decline and destruction, with

Germany usually presented as the helpless victim of foreign aggression Atrocity stories

were culled from folk tales and contemporary fiction, notably The Adventures of

Simplicius Simplicissimus by Grimmelshausen, which was rediscovered by the Romantic

poets as the first authentic German novel and reissued in numerous ‘improved’ editions

in the early nineteenth century.4

The reappearance of these tales in historical novels and paintings, as well as schoolhistory lessons, reinforced folk memory and family tradition, not only in Germany but

in other countries affected by the fighting The Thirty Years War became the benchmark

to measure all later wars The inhabitants of eastern France interpreted each subsequentinvasion in the light of stories told about the Swedes and Croats who devastated theirregion in the 1630s Soldiers fighting in the trenches along the eastern front of the FirstWorld War believed they were experiencing horrors not seen in three centuries In hisradio broadcast on 4 May 1945, Hitler’s architect and armaments minister, Albert Speer,announced ‘the destruction that has been inflicted on Germany can only be compared tothat of the Thirty Years War The decimation of our people through hunger and

deprivation must not be allowed to reach the proportion of that epoch.’ For this reason,

he went on, Hitler’s successor, Admiral Dönitz, had given the order to lay down arms.Public opinion surveys carried out in the 1960s revealed that Germans placed the ThirtyYears War as their country’s greatest disaster ahead of both world wars, the Holocaustand the Black Death.5

The impact of TV undoubtedly shifted this perception in the later twentieth century,especially through the dissemination of photographic images of more recent carnage.Nonetheless, even in the twenty-first century, German authors could assert that ‘neverbefore and also never since, not even during the horrors of the bombing during the

Second World War, was the land so devastated and the people so tortured’ as between

1618 and 1648.6

The second feature established by nineteenth-century historiography is the air of

tragic inevitability This is already apparent in Schiller’s Wallenstein, which presents its

central figure as an idealistic hero seeking peace but doomed to be murdered by his

closest subordinates The sense of unstoppable descent into chaos became general inwriting after the Napoleonic Wars The earlier positive reception for the Peace of

Westphalia seemed inappropriate given the Empire’s demise in 1806 Far from

strengthening the imperial constitution, the war now seemed to have started its

unravelling More recent work reinforces this impression by shifting attention from

personalities and constitutional failure to the long-term transition of the European

economy from feudalism to capitalism that allegedly triggered the ‘General Crisis of theSeventeenth Century’.7 Others see the crisis as primarily political, environmental, or acombination of two or more factors All versions, however, claim that underlying

structural change stoked tensions that exploded into violent revolts and internationalconflict across Europe after 1600.8

Disagreements over the interpretation of these events in the Empire produced thethird and probably most influential element in nineteenth-century German writing The

history of the Thirty Years War became enmeshed in the controversy surrounding

German development after 1815 Two competing narratives emerged, each associatedwith one of the possible future Germanies The ‘Greater German’ solution envisaged aloose federation that included Habsburg Austria as well as Hohenzollern Prussia and the

‘third Germany’ of the smaller states like Bavaria, Nassau and Württemberg The ‘LesserGerman’ alternative excluded Austria, largely because of the complications of

incorporating the Habsburgs’ other subjects in Italy and the Balkans The Lesser Germansolution triumphed with Prussia’s victory over Austria in 1866 and was consolidatedwith the defeat of France in 1870–1, establishing the Second Reich Both visions for

Germany’s future had clear religious associations that were transposed onto the disputeover the country’s past The assumption that the Thirty Years War had been a religiousconflict seemed so self-evident it was scarcely questioned

It proved highly significant that the conflict over German statehood coincided withthe birth of modern historical scholarship Leopold von Ranke, the founder of the

German empirical school, chose Wallenstein as the subject of the only full biographyamong his extensive publications Ranke and his contemporaries made a real effort tostudy the surviving archival material, and much of their writing remains of great value.They profoundly influenced how historians in other countries interpreted the war,

though each country also fitted the conflict into its own national narrative French

historians generally saw it through the lens of Richelieu and Mazarin, whose policiesreputedly laid the foundations for the era of ‘French preponderance’ over the continentfrom the mid-seventeenth century to Napoleon For Spanish writers, the theme was one

of national decline as their country appeared to have overreached itself after 1618 TheSwiss, Dutch and Portuguese associated the conflict with national independence, in eachcase from the Habsburg monarchy, while Danes and Swedes placed it in the context oftheir mutual rivalry over the Baltic British interpretations remained closest to the

German view, partly because the Stuart dynasty was associated with the elector

Palatine’s fateful decision to support the Bohemian rebels after the Defenestration

Many contemporaries saw this dynastic link in religious terms as the ‘Protestant Cause’,something that was echoed in the confessionalized writing of nineteenth-century

Germans whose works provided the main sources for historians working in Britain.9

The idea of a religious war also fitted the broader Protestant narrative behind muchnineteenth- and early twentieth-century historical writing that viewed events followingthe Reformation as liberation from the Catholic yoke The same progressive trajectorycould also be presented without a confessional bias as one of secularization and

modernization In one recent account, the war becomes the ‘developmental and

modernisation crisis’ of European civilization; an ‘inferno’ that produced the modernworld.10

It is a commonplace in historical writing and political science that the Westphaliansettlement initiated the system of sovereign states that came to structure internationalrelations around the globe Military historians routinely credit key figures like GustavusAdolphus as the ‘fathers’ of modern warfare Politically, the war is believed to have

fostered an era of absolute monarchy that dominated much of the continent until theFrench Revolution The Europeans exported their quarrels to the Caribbean, Brazil,

western Africa, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.The silver that paid the soldiers of Catholic Europe was mined in appalling conditions

by Mexicans, Peruvians and Bolivians, many thousands of whom can be numbered

among the war’s victims African slaves toiled in Brazil for Dutch sugar planters whoseprofits helped finance their republic’s struggle with Spain, along with money from theBaltic grain trade and North Sea fisheries

Interest in this wider dimension has come to dominate writing in English on the warthat presents events in the Empire as part of a wider struggle of France, Sweden andEnglish, Dutch and German Protestants against Spanish-Habsburg hegemony The war

in the Empire was either an adjunct of this larger conflict, or became part of it onceSweden and France intervened in Germany in the 1630s Though one leading exponentdismisses the older German interpretation as ‘parochial’, this international war schoolremains strongly influenced by nineteenth-century historiography, presenting the

outbreak as inevitable, and the conduct characterized by escalating violence and

religious animosity.11

THE ARGUMENT

The Thirty Years War was an extremely complex event The problems of interpretationderive from attempts to simplify it by overemphasizing one facet to the detriment ofothers The present book seeks to reconnect the different elements through their

common relationship to the imperial constitution The war in the Empire was related toother conflicts, but nonetheless remained distinct Observers even outside the Empirebelieved the struggle that began with the Bohemian Revolt continued until the Peace ofWestphalia They began talking of a five or six years war in the early 1620s and

continued counting until its conclusion in 1648.12

Nonetheless, all Europe was affected and the course of the continent’s history wouldhave been very different had the war been avoided, or had another outcome Of themajor states, only Russia remained uninvolved Poland and the Ottoman empire

exercised a significant influence without engaging directly The Dutch just managed tokeep their own conflict with Spain separate, while trying to shape events in the Empirewith limited indirect assistance British engagement was more substantial, without thatstate ever becoming a formal belligerent France and Spain intervened, but kept theirparticipation separate from their own mutual struggle that had separate origins andcontinued another eleven years beyond 1648 Denmark and Sweden were full

belligerents, though their intervention had little to do with the war’s origins Likewise,other neighbouring principalities like Savoy and Lorraine were drawn in, without losingsight of their own agendas and regional squabbles

The second major distinction of the present argument is that it was not primarily a

religious war.13 Religion certainly provided a powerful focus for identity, but it had tocompete with political, social, linguistic, gender and other distinctions Most

contemporary observers spoke of imperial, Bavarian, Swedish, or Bohemian troops, notCatholic or Protestant, which are anachronistic labels used for convenience since thenineteenth century to simplify accounts The war was religious only to the extent thatfaith guided all early modern public policy and private behaviour To understand theconflict’s true relationship to the disputes within Christianity, we need to distinguishbetween militant and moderate believers All were religious and we should not see

moderates as necessarily more rational, reasonable or secular The difference lay not intheir religious zeal, but how they related faith and action All were convinced their

version of Christianity offered the only true path to salvation and the sole correct guide

to justice, politics and daily life Moderates, however, were more pragmatic, regardingthe desired reunification of all Christians within a single church as a general, rather

distant objective Militants saw this goal as within their grasp and were not only

prepared to use force rather than persuasion but also felt personally summoned by God

to do so They interpreted the Bible in providential, apocalyptical terms, relating

current events directly to the text For them, the conflict was a holy war; a cosmic

showdown between good and evil in which the ends justified almost any means

As we shall see, militants remained the minority, largely experiencing the war as

observers or victims of defeat and displacement Nonetheless, then as now, militancyproves especially dangerous when combined with political power It creates a delusionalsense in those who rule of being chosen by God for a divine purpose and reward It

encourages the conviction that their norms alone are absolute, their form of government

is automatically superior to all others and their faith is the only really true religion Suchfundamentalists demonize ‘the other’ as evil in the psychological equivalent of declaringwar, cutting off all possibility of dialogue or compromise They no longer feel obliged totreat opponents as human beings Problems to which they might have contributed areblamed entirely on the enemy But such self-confidence is inherently dangerous to

themselves as well as their enemies The belief in divine assistance encourages

fundamentalists to take risks, convinced that mounting odds are merely part of God’splan to test their faith They remain convinced that ultimate victory is theirs by right.This can stiffen resolve and motivate stubborn resistance, but it is poorly suited to

achieving military success Fundamentalists have no real knowledge of their opponents,whom they make no effort to understand These beliefs certainly shaped key decisions,including the Defenestration and the elector Palatine’s decision to join the Revolt

Militants’ influence was at times disproportionate to their numbers, but this does notmean we should interpret the conflict through their eyes

The third key distinction of the present argument is that the war was not inevitable.The link between seventeenth-century European strife with wider environmental andeconomic problems is circumstantial at best The entire continent was not convulsed by

a general wave of violence Despite sharing similar underlying problems with the warzone, much of the Empire remained at peace after 1618, until the conflict escalated in

1631–2 Nor did conflict inevitably follow the Religious Peace of Augsburg (1555) thataddressed the tensions stoked by the Reformation There were a few violent incidentswithin the Empire (see Chapter 7), but no general conflict until after 1618 This is thelongest period of peace in modern German history, not matched until 2008 by the 63years following the Second World War The significance of this becomes even clearerwhen the Empire’s relative tranquillity is contrasted with the brutal civil wars in Franceand the Netherlands after the 1560s.

Given the success of the 1555 settlement, the subsequent outbreak of general warafter 1618 requires some explanation This is the task of the first eight chapters, whichalso set out the general situation in Europe and introduce the key issues and many ofthe main characters The next twelve chapters follow events broadly chronologically,paying particular attention to the period after 1635 that has been unduly neglected, yet

is essential for understanding why peace proved so elusive The final three chaptersexamine the political consequences, as well as the human and material cost, and assesswhat the war meant to those who experienced it and for subsequent generations

2 Trouble in the Heart of Christendom

THE EMPIRE

Events in the Holy Roman Empire before 1618 were not without drama, but it was that

of the courtroom rather than the battlefield Sixteenth-century Central Europeans wereembroiled in long-running – and often long-winded – legal disputes that later

generations have dismissed as tedious and irrelevant, compressing the decades prior tothe Thirty Years War into a short narrative of confessional and political polarizationtowards inevitable war This is understandable, since the Empire can be exceedinglydifficult to explain

The indefatigable Johann Jakob Moser, who found time outside his legal career tocompose six hundred Protestant hymns and raise eight children, gave up trying to

describe the imperial constitution after publishing over a hundred volumes in the latereighteenth century The only way to approach the problem, as T.C.W Blanning has

aptly remarked, is to love anomaly, since the Empire did not fit any recognized

pattern.1 This is the reason behind the famous seventeenth-century depiction of the

Empire as a ‘monstrosity’ by the philosopher Samuel Pufendorf, who pointed out that itwas neither a ‘regular kingdom’, nor a republic Another contemporary metaphor offers

a better starting point Natural philosophers like Descartes were beginning to explainthe world in mechanical terms, interpreting living organisms and planetary motion ascomplex mechanisms In this context, the Empire appears a slow, cumbersome

juggernaut, operated by an intricate, elaborate yet surprisingly robust internal system

of weights and balances The kings of France, Sweden and Denmark might smash at thismachine with their swords, while the sultan battered it with his mace, denting the

exterior and disrupting some of the more delicate parts, but this did little to alter its

lumbering progress

CommunitiesWhat propelled this juggernaut was the labour of millions of peasants and common folkliving in the 2,200 towns, at least 150,000 villages, and numerous monasteries, conventsand other communities across the Empire It was at the level of these communities thatthings got done: people married, children were born, work was organized, crops

harvested, goods made and exchanged It is these communities that dominate Matthäus

Merian’s Topographia Germaniae, a monumental publishing venture that was begun while

the war was still at its height in the 1630s and not completed until forty years later.2

The work contains scarcely any description of the natural environment, instead

grouping by region all the settlements that Merian and his collaborators had visited or

heard of, and then describing them in alphabetical order The numerous accompanyingengravings perfectly illustrate the three elements of these communities and how theyrelated to the structures of power within the Empire.

Each settlement is shown clearly against the countryside, delineating the community

as a distinct social space Most were located on rivers, essential for communicationswith the wider world, as well as for carrying away rubbish and providing some barrieragainst intruders Unlike modern rivers, those of the seventeenth century still followedtheir natural course, swelling with heavy rain or melted snow and spreading out

wherever there were meadows or low-lying land Larger streams changed course overtime, leaving islands and inlets that ingenious bridge-builders incorporated in their

structures to span the water Medieval walls surrounded towns and larger villages, oftenusing rivers or streams to provide a wet ditch around the settlement These high, butrelatively thin walls, with their prominent towers and gatehouses, were being

supplemented by additional, more modern outer defences to protect against artillerybombardment Some cities had acquired these defences already, in the sixteenth century,but most built them, or modernized existing structures, in the 1620s as the dangers ofwar became more pressing The thick, low-lying walls, with their massive, stone-frontedbastions, spread outwards round the medieval core, sometimes encompassing newersuburbs, other times brutally sweeping these away to clear fields of fire Only those with

an experienced eye could make out the elaborate geometrical patterns they cut into theground, since the systems of walls, outworks and ditches were largely hidden from view

on the ground by additional banks of earth pushed further into the countryside The fewbuildings that remained outside the walls were either those used for industrial purposes,like sawmills or brick kilns, or were ecclesiastical foundations, like monasteries or

convents that constituted separate communities themselves

Even small villages and hamlets were fenced in to keep out wild animals and marktheir inhabitants’ sense of place Gates would be closed at dusk, and were guarded even

in relatively tranquil times Those passing through would be asked their business andoften obliged to pay a toll on their goods The walls, and more particularly the expenseand trouble of expanding them, kept housing crammed close together, building upwards

to a third storey or more in larger cities, and using every possible space beneath the roofand in the cellar Stone or brick was often used only on the ground floor, with the restbeing built around a timber frame Fire was an ever-present danger, often doing farmore damage than military action Proximity encouraged inquisitiveness A habituallydrunken neighbour was not only a reprobate; he was a fire hazard Likewise,

communities were rarely sufficiently large to be anonymous Society remained face and outsiders immediately attracted comment and frequently suspicion The

face-to-approach of war would bring large numbers of armed strangers across the rolling hills,

or through the woods towards the settlement They would speak different dialects oreven foreign tongues There would be many mouths to feed; often more than the

community itself If the intrusion was contested, there was the risk that familiar

landmarks would be damaged or obliterated A breach in the walls violated the

community’s protected space and signalled an assault that was almost invariably

followed by plunder, pillage and often worse

The church spires that rose prominently above the walls and rooftops pointed to asecond, theological dimension to each settlement as a community of believers Churcheswere generally built of stone and were among the largest structures in each settlement.They are carefully identified in Merian’s engravings, each one being labelled and themore important sometimes given a separate plate of their own Even relatively smalltowns would have four or more churches, each serving as the focal point of its parish.Larger villages with a church would provide for the spiritual needs of the surroundinghamlets Monasteries and convents offered additional places of worship The numberand size of these buildings testifies not only to the significance attached to faith, but also

to the economic muscle of organized religion that was present in all important

communities

The other buildings a traveller would see from afar were those associated with

political authority The town hall, palace or bailiff’s house were the largest buildingsalongside churches, generally far more substantial and certainly more ornate and

imposing than any industrial structures Like the churches, they symbolized the

inhabitants both as a distinct group and as members of a wider community Towns andmost villages enjoyed considerable autonomy over their internal affairs, managing thesethrough representatives elected from the enfranchised inhabitants, generally male

property owners who were married heads of families Arrangements varied

considerably, but generally included jurisdiction over lesser offences, limited powers toraise resources and labour for common tasks, and the management of land and

economic assets held communally Crucially, these powers usually included the right todecide who could reside in the community and sanctions that could be imposed on thosewho transgressed its norms Yet no community was completely independent Anyoneentering its principal government building would see a carved or painted coat of arms,identifying a higher authority to which the community would answer

It was the imperial constitution that linked these thousands of settlements by bindingthem in a series of hierarchically ordered, overlapping jurisdictions Though ‘Germany’appeared in the title of Merian’s work, it actually covered the Empire, an area that stillstretched for over 680,000km2, including not only all of modern Germany, Austria,

Luxembourg and the Czech Republic, but also much of western Poland, and Alsace andLorraine that are now in France While missing in Merian, most of the modern

Netherlands and Belgium were also still associated with the Empire in 1600, as was afurther 65,000km2 of northern Italy, even if these regions were not represented in

imperial institutions.3

Emperor and Princes

As a whole, the Empire symbolized the late medieval universal ideal of a single

Christendom Its ruler was the only Christian monarch with an imperial title, elevatinghim above all other crowned heads His pretensions to be the secular head of Europe

rested on the idea of the Empire as the direct continuation of that of ancient Rome and

so the last of the four great world monarchies prophesied in the Book of Daniel Theuniversal ideal was very distant from the arena of practical politics in the localities,ensuring that the emperor did not rule the numerous communities directly Instead, hisauthority was mediated through the Empire’s hierarchy of jurisdictions that in turn

related to its medieval, feudal origins The emperor was the superior lord over a host oflesser authorities bound in chains of vassalage The distinctions between these lords hadgrown sharper, particularly as the Empire had to deal with a variety of internal andexternal problems since 1480 A fundamental division had emerged between those lords

who were immediately under the emperor’s jurisdiction (Reichsunmittelbar), and those

‘mediate’ authorities who were subordinate to intervening jurisdictions

Immediate lords possessed full imperial fiefs (Reichslehen) held directly from the

emperor in his capacity as their feudal overlord These fiefs were generally composed ofother, lesser fiefs held by mediate lords, or other jurisdictions exercised by subordinatecommunities Thus, the towns, villages and other settlements were bound together

within a complex legal and political web of rights, prerogatives and jurisdictions Theserights gave whoever possessed them a claim on the respect, subservience and resources

of those bound by them A lord exercising jurisdiction over a village could expect thedeference of its inhabitants, a share of their produce and some of their time and labourfor certain tasks In return, he or she was expected to protect their interests against

malevolent outsiders, uphold their communal distinctiveness within the wider imperialframework, and to intervene in the management of their internal affairs to resolve

serious problems

The strength of the community as social and political space meant that these rightswere rooted in the land, so that whoever held them, held authority over that area

However, those holding one type of authority were not necessarily barred from

possessing another; thus the lord of an immediate imperial fief might also hold otherland that bound him in vassalage to one of his peers Similarly, the presence of the

church, with its vast material resources, created a host of ecclesiastical lords that hadtraditionally had a close relationship with the emperor and who considered themselves

collectively as the ‘imperial church’ (Reichskirche) The material basis of the imperial

church rested on the settlements and assets it controlled through its possession of

imperial fiefs and other jurisdictions However, these territorial jurisdictions did notmatch spiritual jurisdictions that extended to the churches in the settlements held bysecular lords Finally, jurisdictions could be shared by more than one lord, while

different lords could hold separate rights in the same community

Most rights were acquired by inheritance and were held by the 50-60,000 noble

families living in the Empire The vast majority of these were ‘territorial nobles’

(Landadel), possessing only lesser rights subject to the superior jurisdiction of the

exclusive group of lords with imperial fiefs There were around 180 lay and 130 spiritualfiefs that collectively constituted the territories of the Empire They varied considerably

in size, and there was no direct correlation between geographical extent and political

weight The Empire had taken shape when its population had been concentrated in thesouth and west The density of settlement in these parts enabled them to sustain a

higher concentration of lordships than the more sparsely populated north and east thatwere not fully incorporated in the imperial constitution until the beginning of the

sixteenth century

Consolidation of the constitution forged the lay and spiritual lords into three groups

by 1521 The smallest, but most senior, were the seven electors who held the fiefs

associated in the Golden Bull of 1356 with the exclusive right to chose each emperor.The prevailing social distinctions gave precedence to the clergy as ‘first Estate’ over thenobility, on account of their societal function of praying for the entire community’s

salvation The premier electorate was thus that of the archbishop of Mainz, followed byhis colleagues in Cologne and Trier, none of whom had many more than 100,000

subjects The secular electorates were headed by the kingdom of Bohemia, the only landwith a distinct royal title in the Empire (see Chapter 3) Bohemia was also the largestelectorate, covering 50,000km2 and with 1.4 million inhabitants living in 102 towns,

308 market centres, 258 castles and 30,363 villages and hamlets with 2,033 parish

churches Brandenburg was the next in size, but the most junior in status, covering 36,000km2 but with only 350,000 people Saxony was smaller, but more densely

populated with around 1.2 million subjects The Palatinate ranked second after

Bohemia, covered about 11,000km2 in two parts, one (Lower) on the Rhine, the other(Upper) north of Bavaria, with a combined population of about 600,000 Together, theelectors held around a fifth of the Empire, and over a sixth of its population

The other imperial fiefs fell broadly into one of two types Fifty spiritual and three lay fiefs were held by lords of princely rank, though their actual titles ranged fromarchbishop and bishop, through duke, landgrave and margrave (marquis) All lay fiefswere formally acquired by inheritance or purchase; in both cases the transfer was

thirty-subject to the emperor’s approval Spiritual rulers, including the three electors, werechosen by the cathedral or abbey canons of the principal church in their land, againsubject formally to the emperor’s and, in this case, pope’s agreement The number ofprinces was always less than the total of fiefs, since it was possible for electors to

acquire princely fiefs, while existing princes could hold more than one and

prince-bishops might seek election in another see The Habsburg dynasty was the most

successful of all princely families in accumulating influence this way, having acquirednot only the eleven Austrian provinces but also Bohemia and its associated lands,

together with the seventeen Netherlands provinces, giving them 303,000km2 of territory,

or over two-fifths of the entire Empire With the parts of Hungary that also fell to thedynasty in 1526, the Habsburgs governed over 7 million subjects by 1600, comparedwith around 17 million people in the rest of the Empire This territorial base ensured thedynasty’s virtual monopoly of the imperial title between 1438 and the end of the

Empire in 1806 They stood head and shoulders above the other princes, few of whomhad more than 100,000 subjects

The second group of around 220 fiefs were smaller still and lacked full princely status,

ruled by a count, lord or prelate, most of whom had only a few thousand subjects Afurther 400 baronial and knightly families held a further 1,500 fiefs directly from the

emperor as ‘imperial knights’ (Reichsritter) Individually, their holdings were no larger

than those of the far more numerous territorial nobility who lacked the status of

imperial immediacy, and they had ceased to play a significant role in imperial politics

by the mid-sixteenth century

CitiesThe vast majority of communities fell under one or more of these jurisdictions, but someremained outside lordly control The most important were the eighty or so ‘free andimperial cities’ that lay mainly in Swabia and Franconia, the old imperial heartlands ofthe south and west They included most of the Empire’s largest settlements, notably

Augsburg, which was the biggest with 48,000 inhabitants, or four times the size of

Berlin It headed a small group of Nuremberg, Hamburg, Cologne, Lübeck and

Strasbourg, each with around 40,000 people They were followed by places like

Frankfurt, Bremen, Ulm and Aachen, with about 20,000 inhabitants apiece, and by a farlarger number of towns like Nordhausen, Heilbronn, Rothenburg and Regensburg, withless than half that Most had fewer than 4,000 inhabitants, though some, like

Schwäbisch-Hall, controlled a significant number of surrounding villages The cities’influence rested in part on their direct relationship to the emperor that preserved themfrom incorporation within neighbouring principalities Anyone doing business with thebailiff of Eriskirch village by Lake Constance in 1619 would see the arms of the city ofBuchhorn above the door – the city’s symbols of a tree and a hunting horn, identifying it

as lord of Eriskirch, which it had acquired in 1472, while the city’s allegiance to the

emperor and the Empire was shown by the imperial arms above its own The black

double-headed eagle symbolized the fusion of the Empire with the former kingdom ofGermany Surrounding the eagle was the Order of the Golden Fleece, badge of a

chivalric order founded in 1429 to defend the church This was the highest distinctionawarded by the Habsburgs, directly linking their family to the emperor’s traditional role

as Christendom’s protector The red-white-red Habsburg colours were reproduced at thecentre of the eagle, further underscoring the dynasty’s association with the imperialtitle, and the city’s membership of the Empire under their authority.4

The Imperial ConstitutionDirection of the Empire was shared between the emperor and his vassals, but given thehierarchical character of the constitution, rights and responsibilities were divided

unequally The emperor was overlord and sovereign, holding considerable reserve

powers that derived directly from his title rather than possession of any fief These

imperial prerogatives were deliberately left vague, because fixing them in law wouldimply limits to the emperor’s universal pretensions However, the need to deal withpressing problems forced the emperor and his vassals to define their relationship moreprecisely and created additional powers at various intermediary levels between the

emperor and the Empire’s component communities Though the Habsburgs monopolizedthe imperial title, they did not hold it by right, but had to negotiate with the electors tosecure acceptance It was possible to persuade the electors to accept an emperor

designate, known as the king of the Romans, who could assume power on his father’sdeath Otherwise, there would be an interregnum regulated by the Golden Bull Thishanded imperial prerogatives to the elector of Saxony in the north and the elector

Palatine in the south, while fixing a deadline within which all seven electors were toconvene and select a successor under the direction of the elector of Mainz as arch-

chancellor of the Empire Candidacy was not open to all, since the emperor was not akind of life president but a sovereign majesty, which presupposed that whoever waschosen would already possess certain ‘royal’ qualities

The growth of Habsburg resources made the dynasty the obvious choice, since

imperial prerogatives conferred executive authority but supplied few means to put

decisions into effect The electors expected the emperor to use his own lands to fund notonly his personal court and imperial institutions, but also much of the defence againstthe Ottomans and other, Christian enemies However, they recognized that changes inwarfare made this impossible without some assistance from the rest of the Empire Theprinces and cities accepted this as well, as the willingness to contribute imperial taxesbecame the criterion for imperial immediacy, marking them out from all the other lordsand towns that merely paid into territorial treasuries These imperial contributions

became known as ‘Roman months’ after the cost of the escort intended to take Charles V

to his coronation in Rome Each territory was assessed according to a scale fixing itsshare of a single month’s pay for 24,000 soldiers Taxes could be raised as fractions ormultiples of this basic quota, and levied either as a one-off payment, or spread acrossseveral months or even years

Matriculation in the tax register by 1521 became the deciding factor in whether a

particular territory secured representation in the imperial diet, or Reichstag, and so

secured recognition as an imperial Estate (Reichsstand) The Reichstag was not a

parliament in the modern sense, but embodied the early modern principle of

representation through the monarch’s obligation to consult his leading subjects on

matters of common concern True to the Empire’s hierarchical nature, such consultationtook place in three separate colleges of electors, princes and cities The composition ofthe princely college was still in flux at this stage, since the existing princes were

reluctant to accord full participation to the more numerous counts and prelates whowere forced to share a handful of votes between them The emperor held the initiativethrough his right to propose subjects for debate Each college took a decision by majorityvote, with each member or their representative speaking in turn according to a strictorder of precedence The colleges then conferred in pairs, the electors generally talking

to the princes, before consulting the cities Once a mutually acceptable wording hadbeen hammered out, the collective decision was presented as a ‘recommendation’ to theemperor, who was free to accept or reject it If he accepted it, it was incorporated intothe concluding document, called an imperial Recess, issued when the Reichstag finished

The Reichstag had emerged relatively rapidly from about 1480 in response to new

problems and its legislation created precedents that were incorporated into the imperialconstitution While not formally obliged to consult it, it became the only way the

emperor could secure binding agreements on all territories, and it was a useful forum totest opinion and lend greater legitimacy to his policies Though cumbersome, the

Reichstag met fairly regularly at the emperor’s request throughout the sixteenth century,passing a considerable body of legislation, as well as voting increasingly regular taxes

to sustain a permanent defence against the Turks (see Chapter 4)

Additional taxes were raised to discharge the other principal constitutional task ofpreserving internal order and resolving disputes between the different lords and cities.The Reichstag of 1495 agreed a perpetual public peace, obliging the emperor and all hisvassals to submit their disagreements to independent arbitration through a new supreme

court, the Reichskammergericht, which was soon set up in the imperial city of Speyer The

emperor could name only the presiding judge and a few of his assistants The territoriesproposed other candidates who were then selected by the sitting judges and swore anoath to the court that superseded any obligation they might have to a territorial master.The imperial legal system has received a very bad press from later generations, not leastfor failing to resolve the problems leading to the Thirty Years War However, its

development enabled the Empire to make the transition from violent self-help throughfeuds to peaceful arbitration in the court, where the aim was not so much to establishabsolute truth or guilt, but to secure mutually acceptable, and hence workable,

solutions The system was expanded in the 1520s to deal with unrest within territories,

as well as conflicts between them The electorates and larger territories created theirown judiciaries that were partially outside the supreme court’s jurisdiction, but

possibilities of both appeal and intervention remained The emperor accepted the court’sindependence not least because he was able to establish another court based in Vienna

This Reichshofrat dealt with matters relating directly to imperial prerogatives, but since

these were ill-defined, they provided a legal basis to intervene in areas originally

intended for the Reichskammergericht Though creating potentially conflicting

jurisdictions, this also gave the Empire a second legal heart that could beat faster if thecase load paralysed the Reichskammergericht

Court verdicts were enforced through regional institutions interposed between the

territories and the Empire Territories were assigned to one of ten Kreise, or ‘circles’, to

select candidates for the Reichskammergericht, and to raise the regular subscription tomaintain it, as well as special imperial taxes and troop contingents to enforce internalpeace, or defend the Empire Imperial law evolved by 1570 to give considerable scopefor autonomous action at this level Each Kreis had its own assembly where, unlike atthe Reichstag, each member had a single vote in a common chamber, thus giving theminor ones greater weight The Kreis assemblies were summoned by the emperor, orthrough an imperial Recess, or on a local initiative by their convening princes, generallyone lay and one ecclesiastical lord for each region The assemblies offered additionalfora to resolve disputes, debate policy and coordinate action Their development varied,

depending on how much they were needed by their members The Habsburg lands weregrouped into separate Burgundian and Austrian Kreise that they alone dominated, whilethe Bohemian lands were omitted from the structure entirely The four Rhenish electorsbanded together to form one Kreis, despite the fact that much of their territory was

scattered in other regions The smaller western and southern territories were groupedinto more compact Lower Rhenish (or Westphalian), Upper Rhenish, Swabian,

Franconian and Bavarian Kreise The latter was dominated by the duchy of Bavaria,which, with over 800,000 inhabitants, was the largest principality and richer than theelectorates The presence of thirteen other members, notably the archbishop of Salzburg,prevented the duke from completely dominating the Bavarian Kreis The northern landswere divided into the Upper (eastern) and Lower (western) Saxon Kreise The formerwas dominated by Brandenburg and Saxony, while the latter was more evenly balancedbetween a number of bishoprics and duchies

Political CultureThus, most of the imperial fiefs were both imperial Estates and Kreis Estates,

represented in the Reichstag and their regional assembly The emperor could approachthem either in his capacity as their personal overlord, or through his representatives inthe Reichstag, imperial courts or Kreis assemblies Except in his own dynastic lands, hehad no direct claim on the vast majority of the Empire’s inhabitants that lived under theauthority of one or more of the territorial lords Representation in imperial institutionsmade these lords advocates of ‘German Freedom’, the language of liberty in

seventeenth-century imperial politics This did not equate liberty with equality or

fraternity, but with ‘liberties’, or the privileges, immunities and rights accruing to

individuals as members of a legally recognized corporate group As imperial members, the territorial lords enjoyed their own special set of liberties, marking themout from their subjects and vassals Their liberties gave them the privilege of being

Estate-consulted by the emperor and a share in the collective governance of the Empire Butthey also brought the responsibility of defending the autonomy and rights of their ownterritories and the peoples and communities that composed them It is here that the

checks and balances of the imperial juggernaut become most apparent Each lord orprince sought to maintain his or her particular place within the imperial hierarchy Noone thought of independence Even the largest electorates lacked the resources for anindependent political existence, while all rulers derived their authority and status fromtheir membership of the Empire, setting themselves apart from aristocrats in other

countries who were the subjects of mere kings As imperial Estate-members, they

distinguished between the emperor and the Empire They were loyal to both, but theirties to the emperor were personal, whereas that to the Empire was collective and

corporate

In the sixteenth century, political systems, both in the Empire and elsewhere in

Europe, were shifting from personal dealings with an overlord to subordination to animpersonal state that transcended the lives of its rulers The coronation of Emperor

Maximilian II in 1562 was the last to be attended by all electors in person While minorcounts and prelates seeking full recognition as imperial Estate-members continued toparticipate in person in the Reichstag, other rulers generally sent trained lawyers torepresent their interests Ever conscious of the expense, many imperial cities entrustedtheir votes to a single deputy Yet personal meetings retained great significance at atime when it could take two weeks for a letter from Berlin to Heidelberg Face to face,lords could discover common interests in hunting or art that bridged years of politicaland even confessional tension Even if sharing a religious service or copious quantities

of alcohol failed to foster good feeling, the complex imperial constitution offered

numerous fora to continue a dialogue

Rather than force an issue, most preferred temporizing, waiting until passions cooled,

or shifting negotiations to a different level in the imperial constitution where there

might be more allies or better chances of success The long process of consultation

offered the chance to dodge unwelcome burdens by citing new circumstances that hadarisen after talks began, or by delaying agreement by the excuse of needing to consultother parties Imperial politics was thus a series of formal meetings of rulers and theirrepresentatives at irregular intervals, supplemented by lesser assemblies to discuss

specific issues, such as currency regulation, or tax quotas Contact was maintained inbetween by couriers or informal personal meetings The large number of relatively weakelements made it difficult for anyone to act alone, discouraging extremism and dilutingany agenda to a minimum that all could agree

This cumbersome process certainly made it difficult for the Empire to act decisively,but it gave it a particular strength that ensured it survived the most prolonged and

bloody civil war in its history The modern democratic state assumes responsibility forimplementing decisions once they have been taken by majority vote The dissentingminority now confront the full power of the state and, if they choose to resist, the

situation can descend into violence as there is no legal basis for their failure to comply

No such separation existed in the Empire, because law-making and law enforcementremained common matters for the emperor and the imperial Estates The minority

continued to confront the majority, not the Empire itself It was as if the process of

decision-making was not yet complete and the majority view remained provisional untilaccepted by the minority This situation was clearly problematic, as the dissenters couldstill hope to reverse unwelcome decisions completely, while the majority could growfrustrated if their opinion remained ignored Constant postponement of controversialissues might render definitive arrangements impossible However, the chances of

violence were greatly reduced as long as a compromise remained possible Moreover,neither side rejected the Empire that remained the accepted forum in which to reach adecision Dissenters opposed the interpretation of laws, not the institutions that made orenforced them Thus, while the Empire’s inhabitants fought over the interpretation ofthe imperial constitution, they did not dispute its existence and it provided the

framework within which they eventually made their peace

CONFESSIONALIZATION

Religious tension impaired the working of the imperial constitution and contributed tothe outbreak of the war in 1618 However, the link was far from straightforward Thesixteenth century was far less violent than much of the Middle Ages that had seen

numerous feuds and even emperors deposed by their vassals To understand the role ofreligion, we need to know how matters of faith became entwined with disputes overearthly authority, and for this we need to examine the process of forming distinct

confessional identities following the Reformation

All Christian confessions sprang from common roots, but developed a momentum oftheir own due to vested material interests, social concerns for status and prestige, andthe psychological need to belong and to define that belonging by distancing oneself

from those holding different views The theological controversy forced believers to take

a stand, leading each principal denomination to stress particular aspects as distinctive.Catholicism emphasized the primacy of organization, with the Roman church as the onlycompetent authority to interpret the word of God for all Christians Lutherans stressedthe primacy of doctrine, claiming to free the Word of God from being misinterpreted by

a church that had lost its way Calvinism stood for the primacy of practice, calling forLuther’s ‘reformation of doctrine’ to be followed by a second ‘reformation of life’, tobring behaviour in line with faith.5

CatholicismMartin Luther’s initial challenge sprang from wider attempts to renew Catholicism, buthis break with Rome forced the papacy to respond politically as well as theologically.The council of cardinals convened at Trent in 1545–63 was intended to heal the rift, butended by passing judgment on the evangelicals as heretics Its final decrees

concentrated on defining Catholicism and outlining a programme to exterminate heresy

by renewing Catholic life One issue was the Eucharist dispute over Christ’s reference tothe bread and the wine at the Last Supper This assumed such significance because of thecentrality of the mass as a collective act of worship, bringing priest and community

together The Council’s decrees affirmed the primacy of the church by stating that theintervention of the priest consecrated the wafers, transforming them into the body ofChrist who was then present at the service Acceptance of this ‘Tridentine mass’

signalled subordination to the pope’s other rulings on doctrine It was accompanied by arevival of the medieval Eucharist cult, manifest through Corpus Christi processions ofthe faithful who walked behind religious banners and images on the Thursday after

Trinity Sunday to celebrate mass together under the auspices of a cleric

The Council issued a wide range of decrees to silence Luther’s criticism that the clergywere not up to their role as mediators between God and believers Education was

expanded so that priests understood official doctrine and did not mislead their flocks.Bishops were to serve their dioceses, not exploit them Carlo Borromeo (1538–84)

became the model to follow He was the first archbishop of Milan for eighty years to

reside in the city, regularly visiting his churches and sponsoring religious orders to goout into the community and encourage a more active Christian life The modern

confessional box was his invention, greatly increasing the attraction of confession,

which became no longer an act of public shame but an opportunity for individual

spiritual guidance He spearheaded the counter-attack against heresy in Switzerland andsoon became the focus of his own cult, leading first to his elevation as cardinal, andthen to papal recognition of his sainthood in 1610 The veneration of saints itself

became a mark of Tridentine Catholicism, celebrating pious figures not only as role

models, but as direct intercessors with God

Local saints further reinforced religious identity and assisted in Catholicism’s response

to evangelical collectivism Though the liturgy remained in Latin, other aspects of

worship were held in the vernacular and were accompanied by music, singing and

activities intended to strengthen solidarity Pilgrimages were revived, especially to thetwo bleeding heart shrines at Weingarten and Walldürn that survived the Reformation.Their protection, by the duke of Bavaria and elector of Mainz respectively, allowed

these princes to demonstrate their Catholic credentials The number of visitors alreadyreached 10,000 a year in the 1590s, rising to two or three times that by the 1620s andboth continued to do good business throughout the war, apart from the three years ofSwedish occupation The Holy Family also assumed greater prominence The saintlycharacter of Joseph was emphasized, presenting him as the devoted defender and

guardian of all Christian families, while the cult of the Madonna reached new heights,particularly with the development of pilgrimage sites at Altötting and Passau along theDanube Marian confraternities were expanded to admit lay members alongside clergy,furthering the integration of the Catholic church within a community Membership ofthat in Cologne grew to 2,000 out of a population of around 45,000 by 1650

Tridentine reform extended to the very heart of the Catholic church, with reform ofthe papal curia and expansion of its diplomatic network as the pope responded not

simply to Protestantism but to shifts in the European balance of power.6 Spain’s victoryover France gave it control of Italian territory either side of the Papal States by 1559,tightening the Habsburg grip on the pontiff who had not forgotten that it had been theemperor’s soldiers, not the Protestant hordes, that had sacked his capital in 1527 Thepope recognized that Catholicism needed the Habsburgs as rulers of both Spain and

Austria, together with their new overseas empire in the Americas and Indies He saw

himself as padre commune, using his influence to broker reconciliation within the

Christian community But the political situation forced him to work through Catholicrulers, many of whom he suspected of placing dynastic advantage above confession Helooked to France and to the remaining independent Italian rulers as counterweights toHabsburg predominance, and was forced to surrender the initiative to other rulers toadvance local Catholic interests

Protestant propaganda presented the Thirty Years War as a papal crusade, with theJesuits as the pontiff’s storm troopers Officially called the Society of Jesus, the Jesuitorder had been established by papal decree in 1540 following the initiative of Ignatius

Loyola.7 The Jesuits had a clear mission to extirpate Protestantism, which their foundercalled ‘an epidemic of the soul’ They would first remove the causes of the ‘infection’ bydisplacing Protestants, and those Catholics who would not cooperate, from positions ofinfluence, and then restore ‘health’ by promoting the vitality of Catholic life and

doctrine These tactics were overtly political and set the Jesuits apart from other

Catholic orders, such as the Capuchins who continued the Franciscan tradition of

working among ordinary people Cardinal Borromeo sent them into the Alpine villages,where they worked to restore Catholicism among the Swiss and the Habsburg subjects inthe Tirol from the 1580s By contrast, the Jesuits started at the very top of the politicalhierarchy, believing that if they won over a territory’s ruler and its elite, gradually therest of society would follow Acting on Loyola’s orders, a Jesuit accepted the post ofconfessor to the king of Portugal in 1552, commencing a policy of actively seeking suchpositions Protestants saw this as a papal conspiracy, quickly fitting the confessors intothe role of evil advisers exercising disproportionate influence

Even among Catholics the order aroused hostility The more traditional orders

resented the pushy Jesuits who acquired churches, schools and other assets through theirpolitical connections Many were alarmed by their apparent radicalism A derangedformer Jesuit tried to assassinate Henri IV of France in 1594, while another memberdefended tyrannicide in a book published five years later, and it was easy to believethey were behind other conspiracies, such as the English Gunpowder Plot of 1605

However, Jesuits had to reconcile their Counter-Reformation mission with their

hierarchical world view, and evolved a distinct approach to their role as confessors.They believed that the devil tempted princes to grant concessions to the heretics If thishad occurred, they would reassure the prince that God would forgive him provided suchconcessions had been politically necessary, and if they were revoked at the first

opportunity Such arguments opened the door to pragmatism where compromise couldcloud militancy It also fitted the varied personalities of the different confessors whowere, after all, engaged in a very personal relationship with their prince The flexible,pragmatic Martin Becan served Emperor Ferdinand II from 1620, but was followed bythe militant hardliner William Lamormaini, who remained his confessor until the

emperor’s death in 1637 Ferdinand’s son and successor chose Johannes Gans, knownfor his love of good dinners and more secular lifestyle Moreover, this unbroken line ofconfessors was not matched elsewhere in Europe where the order had considerably lessinfluence than in the porous political structure of the Empire

The order expanded rapidly in the Empire, growing from 50 members out of a total of1,000 at Loyola’s death in 1556, to 1,600 out of 13,100 worldwide by 1615 Their maintask was not that of confessor, but of teacher, since the order’s primary influence

stemmed from its role as educator of the lay and clerical elite There were 22 Jesuit

colleges in the Rhineland by the outbreak of the Thirty Years War, as well as another 20

in south Germany and 23 more in Austria and Bohemia by 1630 Enrolment rose

dramatically too, with that at Trier leaping from 135 students at its foundation in 1561,

to 1,000 by 1577 Colleges provided the basis for an expansion into higher education as

the Jesuits persuaded rulers to confer university status, enabling them to recruit studentsfrom more prosperous and elevated social backgrounds Their success attracted attentionand they were invited to take over struggling institutions For example, the humanistcolleges of Ingolstadt and Dillingen were both entrusted to them in the mid-sixteenthcentury, while their activities in Vienna allowed them to take over the university there.This expansion was due to a range of teaching methods that seem obvious today, butwere cutting-edge at the time All Jesuits were university graduates and applied a

common curriculum throughout the colleges, combining the existing humanist model ofthe grammar school with the deeper, systematic study of theology and philosophy

Schooling was open to anyone who could pass the entrance examination, and there

were no tuition fees Pupils were streamed into classes according to ability, enablingprogression, while the presence of more than one teacher at each establishment allowedfor specialist instruction with regular lesson plans The educational programme had

broad appeal across German society, but those destined for a higher clerical career were

often sent on to the order’s Collegium Germanicum, founded in Rome in 1552 and funded

by the papacy Though enrolment declined during the Thirty Years War, the Collegiummade a profound impact on the imperial church, providing around a seventh of all

cathedral canons during the first half of the seventeenth century As with the confessors,Jesuit influence through education needs to be set in context There were other Catholicuniversities; eight universities were founded in Protestant territories in the century after1527; and total student numbers across the Empire rose from 2,700 in 1500 to 8,000 by1618; a figure that was not reached again until the nineteenth century.8

Jesuit influence was also blunted by other traditions within German Catholicism

Secular Catholic rulers were keen to combat heresy, since religious dissent was widelyseen as the first step to sedition, but the spread of the Reformation largely confined

Catholicism to the imperial church territories Apart from the Habsburg lands, only

Bavaria and Lorraine remained as large Catholic secular principalities by the

mid-sixteenth century Bavaria and the Habsburgs became the order’s principal sponsors

within the Empire, since many ecclesiastical princes viewed the Jesuits with suspicion.Though numerous, the ecclesiastical territories were relatively small, and their politicalinstitutions were underdeveloped Government in each territory was largely in the

hands of the cathedral or abbey chapter that elected the bishop or abbot Jurisdictionwas fragmented by the presence of other collegiate churches and religious foundations.For example, five collegiate churches in Speyer controlled a quarter of all parishes,

while half of the archbishopric of Trier was incorporated in foundations and monasteriesbeyond the elector’s direct control.9 The Tridentine decrees enhanced bishops’ powers tosupervise autonomous foundations and parish clergy, who frequently opposed

interference in their affairs Most of the middle and senior clergy in the Empire

associated faith with lifestyle and local interest This Catholic establishment was closelytied to the noble and patrician elite in their area and shared their worldly, Renaissancehumanist outlook There were long-standing patterns of placing younger sons and

unmarried daughters in the imperial church, which provided suitable social status and a